Minister of Planning and Economic Development and Egypt’s Governor at the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Ahmed Rostom called for adopting an integrated development financing model that links concessional financing with technical support, institutional capacity building, and knowledge transfer among member states.
This came during Egypt's official speech delivered by Rostom at the high-level roundtable meeting of the IsDB Board of Governors, held on the sidelines of the group's annual meetings hosted by Azerbaijan in Baku, under the auspices of President Ilham Aliyev. Rostom expressed his appreciation to Azerbaijan for hosting the event, thanking Chairman of the IsDB Board of Governors Mikayil Jabbarov and IsDB President Muhammad Al Jasser, while congratulating Al Jasser on his re-election for a new term.
The minister emphasized that global economic and geopolitical disruptions over the past four years have widened the sustainable development goals financing gap, highlighting the urgent need to develop more efficient and crisis-responsive financing tools. Rostom outlined Egypt's strategic vision for prioritizing the IsDB Concessional Financing Fund across three tracks, starting with a short-term focus on supporting sectors most affected by fuel, food, and fertilizer price hikes to protect vulnerable groups.
ُThe Minister of Planning added that the medium-term track involves assisting member states to recover economic activity by supporting production, employment, and intra-trade, while the long-term track aims to address structural imbalances such as import dependency, food insecurity, and supply chain fragility.
The Planning Minister Ahmed Rostom concluded by stressing that sustainable development requires integrating financing with institutional reforms, calling for innovative partnerships to enable the IsDB to support a more prosperous future for its 57 member states.